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Metabolic Free Energy and Biological Codes: A 'Data Rate Theorem' Aging Model
1Division of Epidemiology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA, Wallace@nyspi.columbia.edu.
Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
|September 5, 2014
Summary
Living systems exhibit cognition at all levels. Energy supply stabilizes biological coding; insufficient energy destabilizes it, leading to aging and disease.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Systems Biology
- Information Theory
Background:
- Maturana and Varela's argument posits cognition in all living systems.
- Pathologies can be modeled using information theory, including Shannon Coding and Rate Distortion theorems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To formally integrate biological codes within an information-theoretic framework.
- To explore the role of metabolic free energy in stabilizing biological coding dynamics.
- To link coding channel destabilization to aging and chronic diseases.
Main Methods:
- Application of statistical models from information theory (Shannon Coding, Rate Distortion).
- Formal analysis of metabolic free energy as a control signal for biochemical codes.
- Review of amyloid fibril formation and glycan/lectin logic gates.
Main Results:
- Metabolic free energy stabilizes biochemical code-and-translator dynamics against noise.
- Energy demand exceeding supply destabilizes coding channels, impacting biological functions.
- Aging and stress disrupt these mechanisms, initiating senescence-associated chronic diseases.
Conclusions:
- Biological codes can be understood within an information-theoretic framework, with energy as a critical control.
- System destabilization due to energy limitations provides a unified view of aging and disease.
- This approach simplifies the study of phase transitions in non-equilibrium biological systems.
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